After exchanging the information they each possessed, Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran frowned simultaneously. They realized that Hill had been consistently underestimated. This Omega, who appeared utterly harmless and perhaps even a bit too much of a "white lotus," might be hiding depths far greater than they had imagined.
Furthermore, they both sensed a faint, lingering presence—as if a massive secret was concealed behind Hill’s facade.
What exactly was that secret? Feng Zhixi had a premonition that the answer would unravel many mysteries.
Feng Zhixi looked at Ji Yeran, his gaze a silent inquiry. The other man gave a subtle nod. It seemed they had one more task added to their list.
If they wanted to know what Hill was hiding, the solution was simple: tear the mask off and find out.
Having spent so much time around a certain "smiling fox," Feng Zhixi had inevitably picked up some of the gray, ruthless habits of the lawless zones.
At that moment, Hill was with the rear fleet. His movements suddenly faltered; for some reason, his heart began to race.
"Hill? Hill!" A man’s voice jolted him from his daze. He looked up blankly, meeting Ji Wei’s concerned gaze.
Having been ignored, Ji Wei’s face was clouded with displeasure. "What are you thinking about? I’ve been calling you for ages."
Hearing Ji Wei’s tone, Hill knew the man was annoyed. He had seen plenty of these arrogant, self-important Alphas; they were the easiest to manipulate.
Hiding his utter contempt, Hill habitually lowered his head, deliberately exposing his slender, pale neck. His voice was soft and tremulous. "I’m sorry... I was just a bit worried. I didn't notice you calling me..."
As he spoke, Hill looked up. His emerald eyes were brimming with tears, and his bitten lip was flushed red. In an instant, Ji Wei’s temper evaporated.
"Look at you, why are your eyes so red?" Facing this tearful little darling, Ji Wei’s voice softened immediately. He reached out to tilt the Omega’s chin up.
The blonde Omega averted his gaze, his voice small and sweet. "I-I’m just worried about them. Those pirates are so vicious... It’s too dangerous for an Omega to act as a decoy..."
Amused by the "little rabbit" eyes, Ji Wei leaned in closer. Just as he was about to kiss those tempting red lips, a heavy cough shattered the ambiguous atmosphere.
Hill and Ji Wei both jumped. They looked toward the sound to find Commander Xu Yi standing nearby with a stony expression, flanked by several other cadets.
Having witnessed Ji Wei’s shameless attempt to seduce the young Omega, the other cadets’ eyes were filled with disdain.
Xu Yi’s face was cold, looking at Ji Wei as if he were a useless playboy. He warned, "I will restate the regulations: at this moment, you are soldiers, not students. Leaving your post without authorization is a breach of military discipline. Taking others with you is an even greater offense."
Being rebuked by a mere fleet commander made Ji Wei’s face darken. But it didn't end there—the commander actually threatened to throw him into solitary confinement. On what grounds?
Xu Yi had no intention of coddling this young master. Ignoring Ji Wei’s defiance, he directly ordered his subordinates to take the man away. Disobeying orders on his ship and harassing an Omega—who gave him the nerve?
As he was being hauled off, Ji Wei felt his face burning with shame. He turned back to glare venomously at Xu Yi’s retreating figure, etching this humiliation into his heart.
Xu Yi wasn't oblivious to the cadet’s hateful gaze; he simply shrugged it off. Since these brats had been placed in his hands, it was his duty to whip them into shape. He didn't care about the boy’s family background; it meant nothing to him.
What Xu Yi didn't know was that, in another life, this was exactly the reason he had suffered a catastrophic downfall.
At this moment, as the First Legion’s fleet commander, Xu Yi knew nothing of the future. His primary concern was the progress of Operation Bait.
***
Meanwhile, on the decoy ship, Amir—inspired by Feng Zhixi—had already approached the mission’s execution officer.
The officer was stunned. "Wait, what did I just hear? What did this cadet say?"
Amir, recommending herself for the task, was practically glowing. Her bright, generous personality and beaming smile prevented the officer from feeling any immediate annoyance.
More importantly, the cadet actually seemed to know what she was talking about.
To be chosen by Xu Yi as the execution officer for this plan, the man himself had to be highly adaptable. He didn't underestimate anyone, and the proposal this cadet brought to him actually sounded... quite good.
In fact, she had pointed out the flaws in his plan at a single glance.
"Very well." The officer went silent for a moment before nodding.
Amir was thrilled that her ideas were actually being adopted, especially since the officer decided to give her a free hand.
"Reporting, sir! I guarantee the mission will be a success!" Amir gave a crisp, standard military salute.
The officer nodded and let her take the reins.
Amir rolled up her sleeves and immediately began to demonstrate her true talent: how to maximize the "fat sheep" effect of a decoy ship.
First, one had to inadvertently signal to the outside world that this commercial vessel was a prime target.
The officer’s original idea wasn't wrong, but it wasn't enough. As a soldier, he lacked the merchant instincts Amir had absorbed from her family since childhood.
What kind of merchant ship would attract a powerful pirate group? It had to be simultaneously low-key and high-profile—high-profile in announcing its strong defensive capabilities, yet low-key in trying to hide the treasures it carried.
In truth, the biggest problem with the officer’s plan was that the ship was alone.
The officer nodded, listening to Amir’s plan while signaling his subordinates to modify their arrangements accordingly.
Soon, under Amir’s design, seven or eight small craft appeared around the merchant ship that had been sailing solo through the void. These small craft, also disguised, acted as the ship’s escorts. They surrounded the commercial vessel in a clever formation, making it look cautious and formidable.
A merchant ship that could afford—or possessed—its own fleet of escort craft signaled immense wealth and power. It sent a message to the outside world: the cargo on this ship is incredibly valuable.
This was the signal that would attract the great pirate fleets.
Watching Amir’s practiced maneuvers, the officer nodded in satisfaction. Behind them, Feng Zhixi merely smiled. It was still missing one thing.
What was it missing?
Amir, sharing Feng Zhixi’s thought, frowned. She also felt a strange sense of dissonance. Her intuition told her that her arrangement wasn't quite perfect yet.
What had she overlooked?
With this doubt in mind, Amir subconsciously turned back to look at the person she considered her "Chief."
The young man stood quietly a short distance away. His eyelashes were thick and long, and his eyes curved like crescent moons. His casual smile was breathtaking.
A critical hit of pure beauty!
While being dazzled by the Chief’s smile, Amir—a closeted visual-connoisseur—felt a spark of inspiration. Her eyes lit up as she realized what was missing.
Aesthetics!
Currently, the merchant ship and its escorts looked like a group of rugged, iron-willed soldiers. It lacked luxury—or rather, it lacked the touch that displayed noble, unique status.
For instance, they knew there were Omegas on this ship, but how could they clearly convey that information to the minds of those bloodthirsty pirates?
In most people’s minds, compared to Alphas and Betas, Omegas were born with sharper intuition and artistic sensibilities—in other words, high taste.
Looking at the rigid, characterless exterior of the disguised ship, Amir began a low-key secondary renovation according to her own taste.
In the starry void, the "rugged soldier" of a ship, surrounded by its escorts, began to shed its iron skin. With subtle changes and adjustments, it transformed into a more graceful, elegant "beauty."
If the ship’s previous attraction to large pirate groups was a passing 60%, it had now soared to an excellent 90%.
"Finished!" Amir was delighted.
The officer, having watched the entire process, nodded in silent approval. He failed to notice one crucial detail.
By following Amir’s logic, the number of regular soldiers on the main ship was slowly decreasing. The officer’s subordinates had been distributed among the seven or eight small escort craft. Now, the main ship required the three cadets just to maintain full combat readiness.
However, since the ship was currently in a state of free navigation before any attack, the officer, caught up in Amir’s reasoning, didn't notice this anomaly.
In other words, Amir and the other two had quietly secured combat positions on the ship.
Witnessing this without a word, Feng Zhixi smiled faintly, hiding his contribution to the scheme.
Now, the fully disguised decoy ship had become a giant, delicious morsel. Sailing through the boundless sea of stars, this merchant ship used its understated yet luxurious appearance to broadcast an irresistible signal to the outside world.
And it successfully caught the attention of a large-scale pirate fleet.
***
A pirate vessel was lurking nearby, navigating in silence. These villains, who treated the cosmos as their hunting ground, typically survived like sharks in the ocean—patrolling the universe, moving toward the scent of blood, and vanishing like the wind, leaving the Federation’s regular army unable to catch even a shadow of them.
Recently, the Gamma Galaxy corridor had been harvested so ruthlessly that the number of merchant convoys passing through had dwindled. Combined with the Federation troops that occasionally appeared to hunt them, these veteran pirates, who understood the wisdom of "not overfishing," had collectively agreed to hold back for a while.
You couldn't shear the sheep too closely; you had to let the lambs grow fat before the slaughter. Draining the pond to catch the fish was not the way of a mature, stable pirate.
Thus, this pirate ship, having made several big scores and grown fat on the spoils, had entered a period of stealthy inactivity, cruising quietly along the edge of the galactic corridor.
It was then that the decoy ship and its escort fleet appeared in their sights.
A light commercial vessel, clearly modified—its exterior alone was worth a fortune. Moreover, it had a complete escort team that looked highly professional.
Everything about it screamed "valuable."
The subordinate who first spotted the "fat sheep" immediately reported the news to the boss.
At that moment, the leader of this pirate group was amusing himself with a newly acquired beauty.
Initially, the pirate leader, who intended to rest and enjoy his spoils, wasn't interested—until his subordinate thoughtfully synced the real-time surveillance footage to him.
Seeing the modified, understated merchant ship, the sharp-eyed pirate leader immediately noticed a special emblem flashing briefly on the hull.
*A family migration. This is a massive fat sheep!*
The moment he saw that fleeting emblem, the pirate leader determined the target’s identity.
This was a merchant ship used for the migration of a minor noble family. Such occurrences were common in the vast universe.
Small families would migrate between planets or systems for various reasons, and they were the absolute favorites of the great pirates.
Because those ships didn't just carry the accumulated wealth of several generations; they also carried Omegas—well-educated, beautiful, defenseless Omegas!
Watching the slowly cruising ship, the pirate leader concluded that this escorted vessel was a migrating small family—the second one he had encountered recently.
Good luck indeed!
In that instant, the pirate leader, believing he had seen through the prey’s disguise, threw away the flimsy agreement to hold back. He shoved his plaything aside, licked his teeth, and stood up, his smile dripping with greed.
"Get your gear ready. We’re open for business!"
His words ignited a greedy fire in his subordinates' eyes. At that moment, the merchant ship sailing through the galactic corridor was already considered their property.
***
Enjoying the story? Rate this novel:
Starry Rebirth: The Warden and the Outlaw’s Interstellar Revenge | Chapter 44 | The Perfect Bait | Novela.app | Novela.app
